Vacation!

A successful vacation can be measured in a number of ways. For me, two of those include not being ready to go home when the time has come and completely forgetting what day of the week it is.

We spent most of last week relaxing and exploring around Monterey. And when it comes to meeting the criteria for a fabulous trip, this one definitely didn't disappoint.

Our regularity in picture taking turned out to be pretty pathetic, but, depite the lack of photographic evidence, we did have a wonderful time.

Highlights included:

Kite flying at Asilomar State Beach.

An afternoon drive to Big Sur State Park where we hiked to Pfeiffer Falls, visited McWay Falls and had dinner at the Big Sur Lodge. (And talked over and over again about how we need to stay there!)

Hanging out at the pool, reading and swimming.

Whale watching. Of course we would pick the one day where the waves were unusually and ridiculously large and the whales were shy. I spent the entire trip seated and focused on not feeding the fish my breakfast. It was rough, but definitely memorable. I'm sure another attempt would be a better experience, but I'm not really interested in finding out -- ever.

What? You can't hardly see anything? Don't worry, neither could we.

An afternoon of golf for Nate and a bit of pampering at the hotel's spa for me.

Lappert's Ice Cream. Sure, it tastes better in Kauai, but finding it here on the mainland is always a treat!

A new found love for Whole Foods. Talk about the best sandwiches for lunch.

Carmel...breakfast at Katy's Place (of course!), walking through the shops and art galleries and, of course, walking along the beach.

One of our favorite experiences came by surprise. On our way to eat dinner in Downtown Monterey we came upon an awesome farmer's market. There were tons of vendors, musicians, crafts, food to order and, of course, awesome produce. Nate called it the best parts of the State Fair without the rides and trashy people. Pretty close...but even better than that. If you're headed to Monterey, make plans to hit the farmer's market on Tuesday night. It's SO worth it.

Visiting the Carmel Mission -a first for Nate.

On our last morning we tried out a new breakfast place in Carmel, Em Le's. They claim to be famous for their french toast, so Nate gave it a try. I don't think either of us understood when the description said, 'batter cooked' exactly what that meant. Pretty much 'batter cooked' is a fancy way of saying 'deep fried like a funnel cake.' This was a breakfast that would have made the folks at the State Fair proud. I'm proud to report that Nate didn't come close to finishing it!

We got home and Fourth of July Festivities were upon us. We went to the Folsom Rodeo with friends, had breakfast and a few family dinners during the weekend, and were totally exhausted when it was time for a new week to begin!